What A Difference The Weather Makes

[revmotors]

Have just completed my first four weeks in my 07 Prius T-Spirit, I'm truly astonished at the difference the warmer weather has made to the driving experience and economy. My MPG has got much better and the the engine is switching off much more often and more smoothly. Anyone else experiencing similar improvements?

One month in and I'm loving it, even after 3 years driving a V8 Lexus GS430.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Just wait until its between 22c & 25c! The engine will switch off from cold start within 1/4 mile and your economy goes right up. You will start to see 65-70mpg with ease.

[revmotors]

Bring on the summer then! BTW, thanks Grumpy Cabbie for your input on the site - very valuable and often quite amusing!

[Jan&tone]

Just wait until its between 22c & 25c! The engine will switch off from cold start within 1/4 mile and your economy goes right up. You will start to see 65-70mpg with ease.

oh blood6 'el Grumpy - sod the economy - just get the temperature up to 25C - I'm fed up with this cold, wet, miserable weather.....

[Sagitar]

oh blood6 'el Grumpy - sod the economy - just get the temperature up to 25C - I'm fed up with this cold, wet, miserable weather.....

The local weather forecast on my PDA this morning says "Dreary" - that'll be right . . . . .

[psychynurse]

I live in a hilly region of Yorkshire which is not condusive to fuel economy but have just proudly recorded 52mpg on a tankfull and I was really impressed with my efforts!

I never considered that it may be the warmer weather that made the difference not as I presumed my newly found driving ecomomy skills!

Suppose we learn something every day!

[johalareewi]

I never considered that it may be the warmer weather that made the difference not as I presumed my newly found driving ecomomy skills!

It will be a combination of both. It also helps to keep the tyre pressures topped up.

But Grumps is right, the warmer weather gives a major mpg boost.

[posing]

High petrol prices and cold weather = bad on the pockets!

[psychynurse]

I never considered that it may be the warmer weather that made the difference not as I presumed my newly found driving ecomomy skills!

It will be a combination of both. It also helps to keep the tyre pressures topped up.

But Grumps is right, the warmer weather gives a major mpg boost.

I had nitrogen put in the tyres by Kwik Fit as they state it keeps the pressure more accurate in cold or warm tyres, almost no pressure loss and it does not corrode the metal bands used to construct the inside of the tyre. So thought that would help especially as I am led to believe that so many guages are grossly inaccurate!

[agfs]

Just to confirm opinions mentioneed above, 60 mile trip with ambient temperature 32F in eco mode gave 54 mpg. 30 mile trip in eco mode ar 50F gave 67.5 mpg. Lower radiator grill blocked with insulating foam in both cases.

[timberwolf]

Just to confirm opinions mentioneed above, 60 mile trip with ambient temperature 32F in eco mode gave 54 mpg. 30 mile trip in eco mode ar 50F gave 67.5 mpg. Lower radiator grill blocked with insulating foam in both cases.

Note: For Gen 2 owners, the above grille blocking refers to a Gen 3, Toyota switched the position of the engine and inverter radiators and I wouldn't consider blocking without a ScanGauge 2 or similar device to display the engine coolant temperature.

[posing]

I had nitrogen put in the tyres by Kwik Fit as they state it keeps the pressure more accurate in cold or warm tyres, almost no pressure loss and it does not corrode the metal bands used to construct the inside of the tyre. So thought that would help especially as I am led to believe that so many guages are grossly inaccurate!

Anyone else use nitrogen in tyres?

How much did it cost?

Would you recoup the cost of having it done before your tyre wears out in about 20,000 miles?

[timberwolf]

Anyone else use nitrogen in tyres?

How much did it cost?

Would you recoup the cost of having it done before your tyre wears out in about 20,000 miles?

Read the Nitrogen Inflation about half way down the page of http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg3.html and then make your own mind up.

[kithmo]

I had nitrogen put in the tyres by Kwik Fit as they state it keeps the pressure more accurate in cold or warm tyres, almost no pressure loss and it does not corrode the metal bands used to construct the inside of the tyre. So thought that would help especially as I am led to believe that so many guages are grossly inaccurate!

Anyone else use nitrogen in tyres?

How much did it cost?

Would you recoup the cost of having it done before your tyre wears out in about 20,000 miles?

I use 80% nitrogen in my tyres, cos it's free.

[johalareewi]

I had nitrogen put in the tyres by Kwik Fit as they state it keeps the pressure more accurate in cold or warm tyres, almost no pressure loss and it does not corrode the metal bands used to construct the inside of the tyre. So thought that would help especially as I am led to believe that so many guages are grossly inaccurate!

Did they flush all the air out before they pumped in the nitrogen?

If not, you started with 15psi of air so they only topped it up to 36psi with nitrogen.

[posing]

Read the Nitrogen Inflation about half way down the page of http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg3.html and then make your own mind up.

Thats a fantastic website! Thanks for the link!

[Jan&tone]

Great website, and for those that can't be bothered to go through the whole lot, here's the bit about the nitrogen in tyres....

quote

So does it make a difference to drivers in the real world? Well consider this; The air you breathe is already made up of 78% nitrogen. The composition is completed by 21% oxygen and tiny percentages of argon, carbon dioxide, neon, methane, helium, krypton, hydrogen and xenon. The kit that is used to generate nitrogen for road tyres typically only gets to about 95% purity. To get close to that in your tyres, you'd need to inflate and deflate them several times to purge any remaining oxygen and even then you're only likely to get about 90% pure nitrogen. So under ideal conditions, you're increasing the nitrogen content of the gas in the tyre from 78% to 90%. Given that nitrogen inflation from the average tyre workshop is a one-shot deal (no purging involved) you're more likely to be driving around with 80% pure nitrogen than 90%. That's a 2% difference from bog standard air. On top of that, nitrogen inflation doesn't make your tyres any less prone to damage from road debris and punctures and such. It doesn't make them any stronger, and if you need to top them up and use a regular garage air-line to do it, you've diluted whatever purity of nitrogen was in the tyres right there. For $30 a tyre for nitrogen inflation, do you think that's worth it? For all the alleged benefits of a nitrogen fill, you'd be far better off finding a tyre change place that has a vapour-elimination system in their air compressor. If they can pump up your tyres with dry air, you'll get about the same benefits as you would with a nitrogen inflation but for free.

Unquote

[johalareewi]

Also from that car bibles website, one for hybrids...

http://www.carbibles.com/hybrids_bible.html

[Jan&tone]

Also from that car bibles website, one for hybrids...

http://www.carbibles.com/hybrids_bible.html

Another good article - I still say I bought mine to deprive the government of some of it's excessive petrol tax and RFL

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I think the warm weather and dry roads are making a mpg difference already - I had just filled up and reset my mpg thingy and immediately did a Harrogate to Leeds/Bradford airport and back run and averaged 66.7mpg (approx 64 mpg actual?). Not bad considering I have the very steep Poole Bank to go up, though I do seem to gain more on the way back down!

I remember why I love this car!

And in case I forgot, I was talking to a colleague who had just bought a new Mondeo diesel automatic and he was complaining he was only getting 32mpg out of it around town. Well, he did ask my advice about the Prius before hand and chose to ignore it - ha ha ha ha

You just can't tell some people eh?

[timberwolf]

According to the computer my average mpg is 46 mpg over 67 miles (reset at the last fill-up).

[johalareewi]

I'm back into the high 50s low 60s :) :)

Should be time to take the winter tyres off soon.

[Jan&tone]

I'm back into the high 50s low 60s :) :)

Should be time to take the winter tyres off soon.

Oh sh*t, don't do that, you'll make it snow again....

[johalareewi]

We usually get a cold spell in March. :(

[Doesn'tExist]

And my Grand mother used to say Apprilletje zoet geeft ook nog wel eens een witte hoed